Tag Archives: fascism

Is Trump Fascist? Yale Professor Jason Stanley on How Fascism Works

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Is fascism on the rise under President Donald Trump? Jason Stanley, a professor of phi­losophy at Yale University and author of the bestselling 2018 book, How Fascism Works: The Politics of Us and Them, discusses the fascist tactics used by Trump to maintain power. Demonizing immigrants, delegitimizing political opponents, mobilizing paramilitary groups, undermining experts, attacking the press, and lying incessantly until there is no accepted truth are all classic tactics used by fascist leaders throughout history. Stanley, a frequent contributor to the New York Times and Washington Post, says, “Normalization is what I fear most. …We’ve normalized law breaking in the White House on a stunning level, corruption on a scale we’ve never seen before.” He asserts, “Right now, the idea that we’re a law and order state is a dim memory.”

“We are in serious trouble:” Prof. Amitai Etzioni on Trump and the threat of fascism

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Amitai Etzioni is from a family of German Jews who fled Germany as Hitler and the Nazis were rising in the 1930s. He worries that fascism could come to America under Donald Trump. “Now we have a demagogue who can rile up the masses and undermine democratic institutions. We are in serious trouble.” Etzioni was a senior advisor to Pres. Jimmy Carter and is now a University Professor at George Washington University. He discusses how Carter “made every mistake in the book” in politics but that he compares favorably to Trump. He also examines the question of whether Trump has embraced Big Government or is simply bailing out his friends in private business. (May 20, 2020 broadcast)

Amitai Etzioni, advisor to Pres. Jimmy Carter, University Professor, George Washington University

Gov. Madeleine Kunin on aging, love, loss & women’s rising power

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Gov. Madeleine Kunin marks her 85th birthday with an intimate new memoir, Coming of Age: My Journey to the Eighties. Through poetry and prose, Kunin reflects on aging, love, loss and women’s rising political power. Madeleine Kunin was the first and only woman elected governor of Vermont, serving three terms, 1984-1990. She was American ambassador to Switzerland and US deputy secretary of education, and is currently Marsh Professor-at-Large at the University of Vermont. In this Vermont Conversation, Kunin discusses her coming to terms with aging, the loss of her husband, the #MeToo movement, President Donald Trump and fascism, and the importance of popular protest. (October 17, 2018 broadcast)

Gov. Madeleine Kunin, Governor of Vermont, 1984-1990

From Nazis to Watergate to Trump: Legendary WaPo editor Harry Rosenfeld connects the dots

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An unsung hero of the Watergate scandal was Washington Post editor Harry Rosenfeld, who directed Bob Woodward & Carl Bernstein in their Pulitzer Prize winning exposes that brought down Pres. Richard Nixon. Rosenfeld was born in Berlin, Germany, in 1929 and, after witnessing German attacks on Jewish owned businesses and synagogues, he emigrated to the US with his family ten years later. Rosenfeld began his newspaper career at The New York Herald Tribune, then joined The Washington Post as Metro Editor. After 12 years at the Post, he left to become editor of the Albany Times Union. In 2013, Rosenfeld wrote From Kristallnacht to Watergate: Memoirs of a Newspaper Man. Now 88 years old, Rosenfeld describes life under Hitler, how he hired Bob Woodward and the back story of covering Watergate, the vital role of a free press, and the parallels he sees between the rise of fascism in Nazi Germany and in the U.S. under Trump. (March 7, 2018 broadcast)

Harry Rosenfeld, editor, Washington Post & Albany Times Union